Fishing Reports

Fishing reports on this page contain very general information and are free to everyone. More detailed reports are available to Spokane Walleye Club members under the "Reports for SWC Members" tab. Club members that have paid their due may obtain password access by emailing gjkoch@q.com or cryoman@q.com.

Vince and his buddy met at Moses Lake around daybreak. They had a limit of mainly 14 inch walleyes by noon. Most of the fish were the same size, but there were a couple of 17 inchers to go along with the smaller fish. According to Vince, all boats were catching limits with many headed back to the launch within a few hours.

We fished Fri, Sat, and Sun. Fishing was slow, but steady at Rufus during our 2 and a half days on the river. On Friday, with bright sunshine and temperatures in the 80s, we boated 7 walleyes and 3 rainbows. Rain and gusty east winds woke us up on Saturday, but the rain subsided by mid-morning. Skies remained cloudy all day with temps in the 50s most of the day. We caught 9 walleyes and 6 rainbows. Sunday was another bluebird day. We fished from 830am until noon, and got 3 walleyes, 5 rainbows, and a white fish. Greg got big fish of the trip with a 26 inch female weighing 6 lbs. 12 oz. (released). Allan’s largest fish was nearly as big at 25.5 inches and 6 lbs. 8 oz. (released). Most of the walleyes ranged between 17 and 21 inches. Water temperature was 45 degrees with very good clarity.

Late April is one of the prettiest times of the year on Rufus. The hillsides are green with patches of yellow from clusters of blooming balsoom root. We spotted dozens of mule deer grazing along the steep banks during our trip. Turkeys and pheasants called throughout the day. The baby geese have hatched, and we saw a few bald eagles perched in the trees along the shoreline. Our most curious sighting was a small rattle snake floating in the current on Friday afternoon. It was alive. We heard the buzz of the rattle when motoring up to take a look.

Tom and I got to Rufus a little before 11 AM and fished until 630 PM. By noon, we had 3 walleyes in the boat. We moved several times before we found a couple more fish by mid afternoon. The late afternoon and evening was slow. Tom caught 3 trout and I picked up a walleye at the very end of the day. Our total was 7 walleyes -- 15", 16", 18", 20", 20", 21"(released), 22"(released) and 3 trout (released). All walleyes were males.

The current was noticeably lighter during the afternoon, and the water level at the launch dropped 2-3 feet while we were fishing. The weather was perfect with less than 5 mph wind and bright sunshine for most of the day. Water temp was 42 degrees. Water clarity was several feet.

Found fish early in the morning, lost the bite after the first hour. Would run into active schools do really well for awhile then lose them. Ended up catching fish from 50-65 feet in the current as well as the edges. Long lake got muddy in the last couple of days, so don’t know when the mud will hit the arm. Found several 3-4” sculpins and a few perch the same size in the live well and stomachs.

Fishing sucked. The lake was blown out from hard rain on Thu. Less than 1 ft visibility. Five good sticks from one dam to the other netted 6 squawfish, 5 suckers, 2 smallies and a trout. And a small net.

sat 3/3, kf area, morn bite in 20-40'. large fish. 2-9lbs. no dinks. lots of misses as fish were hitting on the initial cast/drop. tues 3/6 kf again. found them in 8-16' off the main break. jigs & blades.

Water 50 degrees. Caught 2 nice 20 inchers that are stove toppers and a 32 incher that was released. Fished tuesday and only saw a couple other boats, will head back next week, weather permitting. Saw a BIG sturgeon breach about 100 ft from the boat, sounded like a fat guy doing a cannonball. :-)

My daughter and I decided to hit the Snake this last Saturday to see if we couldn't put a few more trophies in the net and eater fish in the livewell. We left Spokane at 8:30 and arrived right about 11:00 AM. When you travel with a teenage girl there are other considerations like bathroom breaks and Starbucks to consider. Driving straight-through, be damned......

My daughter was feeling grateful that I made her bring her winter coat. The water was absolute glass and fog covered the canyon, so it was relatively dark for 11:00 AM. We rounded out the day with 9 fish. Their average size was great! Seven of them were caught trolling towards the dam and the other two were caught in that North side back eddy, so in reality all of them were caught moving against the current. These fish were chunky! We caught (2) 19's, (2) 18's, (2) 17's and three others that were between 14 and 16 inches. We have a mess of fillets and couldn't be happier.

I loaned the fella (who is probably going to join our club), the bait we were using. He later went on to catch an 11.7 lbs walleye on it along with a couple of other eater fish! He came back to find us and we took his picture, with his big fish, before he released it. His name is Steve out of Lewiston, ID. He was down at our club fish day, a couple of weeks ago. He had a bit of interaction with our club and was very grateful for the knowledge we were willing to share. He is looking into joining. Good guy..... We were off the water, by 4:30 PM and witness to another beautiful autumn sunset, which is particularly spectacular down there.

I'm hoping to squeeze in one more trip, before my boat gets a nice winter rest, but we'll see....She's tired, it's huntin' season and I'm from Minnesota....... Boats and November, don't compute.......

We got an early start Tuesday and made it all the way to Gifford, 8 AMto 5 and landed 3 walleyes. 17" and 16". Just enough for two HUNGRY fishermen. Then Wednesday fished till 2:00in the wind and threw in the towel. Did not hook another fish. Saw about 6 boats total, which might have been a telling observation.

We had a good turn out for our Fish Day with the Tri Cities club. Spokane Walleye Club had 8 boats and Tri Cities had several boats as well. A few big fish were caught. A member of the Tri Cities club landed and released a 13 pounder. Greg caught and released a 10 pound walleye. Travis caught one nearly 8 pounds and another around 5 pounds. In general fishing was slow. A 10 to 15 mph wind developed between 10 am and 2 pm that made boat control tricky. The weather was ideal for those of us who stayed Sunday and Monday, but the fishing slowed as the weather got warmer. Allan caught a 5 pounder on Sunday and Greg got one just shy of 5 pounds on Sunday as well. Linda caught the biggest fish on Monday at 18 inches.